The One-Year Wardrobe Project

About a year ago, at the advice of GRS readers, I started an experiment. I took all of the shirts and sweaters from my clothes closet and moved them into our spare room. Whenever I needed something to wear, I checked the clothes closet first. If what I needed wasn’t there (as was often the case at first), I went to the spare room to find it. After I’d worn a shirt or sweater once, it was allowed to return to its home in the main clothes closet.

The results of this experiment probably won’t be very surprising. After a couple of weeks during which I was reclaiming my favorite shirts, most of the rest remained unused. For an entire year.

On Tuesday, I gritted my teeth, grabbed the 37 shirts and sweaters still left in the spare room, and took them to a local thrift store. Some of the things I donated had never been worn (or had been worn just a couple of times). It hurt to part with those clothes. I probably spent more than $750 to purchase them (remember, I buy a lot of clothes at thrift stores), so in a way it felt like I was throwing away $750.

But it occurred to me that’s the wrong way to look at it. I’m not throwing that money away now. I threw away that $750 years ago when I bought the clothes I wasn’t ever going to wear. (Plus, I’ve managed to get rid of a bunch of Stuff, which was the whole point of this project in the first place.)

Over the past few weeks, I’ve bought a handful of new shirts to fill some gaps in my wardrobe. But I’ve made a vow to myself: I never want to buy clothes compulsively again. It used to be I’d go into Costco or Goodwill or wherever, and if I saw a shirt or sweater I liked, I’d buy it — even if I didn’t have a need for it. Now, though, I want to apply my new-found financial discipline to my wardrobe. Instead of buying lots of cheap stuff, I’m going to allow myself to purchase nice stuff (I like the clothes at REI), but only when I have a need for something.

Caveat: I’m losing weight right now. If all goes according to plan, I will have lost 50 pounds by the end of the year. There’s no way I’m going to pay full price for an entirely new wardrobe. As needed, I’ll build the foundation of my new skinnier wardrobe by shopping at thrift stores instead of paying full price at a department store.

Now that this project is over, it’s made me think:

I wonder if there’s a way to make this an ongoing thing. Is there a way for me to tag which clothes I’ve worn most recently, and which I haven’t? Maybe if I hang the freshly cleaned clothes at one end of the closet, then I’d know the clothes at the other end had gone the longest since being worn. In this way, I could be constantly getting rid of the items I no longer wear.

I also think it might be interesting to apply this method to other parts of my life. What about my CD and DVD collections? My books? The garden tools that are spilling out of our shed? In my war on Stuff, I’m always looking for new paths to victory, and this method could be one.

My guess is that of the things I own, probably 20% of the Stuff gets 80% of the use. While a part of me wants to be brave and simply pare down what I own to just the bare essentials, I haven’t reached that mental space yet. I’m too attached. But maybe I’ll get there in a few years. For now, I’m just happy to have trimmed my wardrobe down to a manageable size.

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I started cleaning out my closet a couple weeks ago and have already noticed a big change. For my shirts and sweaters for winterI have decided to move everything I used and washed to the back of the closet and leave everything else not used up front. By late March everything I did not used for the winter season will get taken out. I Plan to do the same thing for the rest of the seasons. I am just so picky of having all my hangers go the same way, I could not have turned them the other way. Thanks for your post.

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Jan

I also turn all the hangers backwards at the beginning of the year. At the beginning of the next year, what is still backward is given to the Veterans Administration. I gave over 100 pieces this past year, will probably have that much next year. They send a truck to pick it up from my front porch. Don’t have to worry with taking it somewhere. Tax deductible.

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Katie

My mother does something like this each year but she does it by turning all her hangers around so they are hanging backwards on the closet rod. When she wears an item, the hanger is turned around. At the end of the year, she can donate/consign/discard/consider the items still hanging backwards.

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Leszek Cyfer

You wrote that you are losing weight now. It strikes me that I also lost a lot of weight when I decluttered and emptied my surroundings.

I guess it’s the old “as within so without” – getting rid of excess in my surrounding I got rid of excess inside of my body.

Makes Me Think

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Rachel B

Like @Susan, I try to use the “for every item in, another item out” rule as much as I can.

Books and magazines are tougher for me. I cut down my magazine spending by subscribing and limiting my “impulse” magazine purchases. For books, I rely on my public library a lot (requesting online is great!). With the exception of “books I buy on vacation,” I try to limit my book purchases to books for business (I’m in web design), so that I can get a tax credit. I always try to sell my text books online, to recoup some of my expenses and clear out my shelves.

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Lyn Thorne-Alder

Neat! I do something similar; if it stays in the “off-season” box through an entire season, it goes in the Goodwill box.

I’m also in the process of losing ~50-60 pounds (22 down, 42 to go!) and trying to figure out how to best clothe myself, especially in the middle zone there, while I’m floating on a size I don’t plan to be again next year.

This would be easier if I weren’t sort of clothing-happy, although I never have been massively clothing-spendy. I want nice clothes, and I want to look nice the whole way ‘through the weight loss. Tricky.

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SLCCOM

If you have older clothing, say Grandma’s from the 1970s, give them to a local theater group. Then you can go see her clothes on stage!

Since we live in a warm weather climate, I rarely need to go into that closet, so it stores all the incidentals conveniently, but I don’t have to go through them to get to my daily clothes.

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Leah

I put all my clothes away on the right side of the closet. On the first of every month I put a tag on the right-most hanger with the date (I just use a sheet of scrap paper on a wire hanger). The clothes I don’t wear end up on the left side of the closet AND I know how long its been since I’ve worn them.

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brian

With collections such as CDs and DVDs, I would look to burning them first to an external hard drive. Whe I graduated college I had over 150 CDs and 200 DVDs. Last year, I moved and it was a pain to move all those cases and binders of discs. So, I bought a 500 GB external hard drive and began the process of burning my collection. I managed to get rid of all my CDs (think a small bookcase of stuf) and now I am working on the DVDs. with high capacity storage devices so cheap these days, I look to making everything digital if possible.

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Julie

I hang my freshly laundered items on the right side of the closet, and when I select something to wear I start from the left side. The things I skip over tend to gather on the far left and make it easy to gather them up for a Goodwill run. This also helps me keep variety in my wardrobe, instead of wearing a few favorites over and over – if a blouse is on the far right, I know I just recently wore it and need to select something else that day.

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aisforantics

Thank you for this great article and subsequent tips from readers. I do have the luxury of being able to use a spare room for my wardrobe experiment, and it is eye-opening to see how much clothing I have, and how little of it I wear. What resonated most for me on this page is the comment about how we [developed nations] can go for weeks without having to launder [except maybe socks/underwear/towels] while those in poorer countries have maybe 2 or 3 total outfits each. Obviously that can be said of more than clothing, so I plan to take this process into every room until I’ve culled my Stuff to a manageable, and usable amount. The rest will go to people who really need Stuff.
Someone asked about dealing with personal, emotional attachments to articles clothing. I saw on some HGTV show that they took sentimental but unwearable items and dismantled them, then used the fabric/trims to make pillows or quilts [or even covers for scrapbooks]. That way the item isn’t taking up valuable closet space but is actually utile, and the sentiment is preserved.

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Ted

I just wanted to comment on the lose 50 pounds this year part. I have lost 33 pounds in the last month, and i have to tell you it was pretty easy. I had a really high triglyceride reading and felt that I needed to make some major changes. I already work out 6 or 7 days a week, and have for years, but while I’m not fat, I was never trim. The following worked wonders for me:

What do I eat? A lot of veggies with hummus. Lots of caesar salads, chicken, fish, sushi, subway turkey sandwiches with no cheese or mayo, fruit. Oatmeal for breakfast.
Dry cereal with dried fruit and nuts for snacks. Lots of hot peppers, giardiniera, mustard, red pepper relish, etc for spicing things up.

Now that I’ve lost the weight I’ve reintroduced two low cal protein drinks/day as well.

In about two weeks, it becomes easy.

Good luck.

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elwing

Any suggestions for dealing with that “special” outfit/dress that you use maybe once every 2 years for a wedding/funeral but wouldn’t be caught dead in at any other time? I wear all of my “normal” clothes (jeans and tops) all the time, but then I have “work” clothes which I have to wear when meeting clients (2-3x per year), and the “fancy” clothes for weddings, etc. I have several of each type of outfit, and I’d love to get rid of them, but finding clothes that fit is hard enough already, I’m not about to donate/throw them out just to have to try to buy new ones when the time comes.

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erika

Paring down your wardrobe is excellent, but one important step is to keep these ideas in mind when shopping in the first place. Similar to Amy @ #22, I always bought the almost-right items because they were the right price, and would end up with 5 not-quite-what-I-wanted black shirts that never got worn because, well, they weren’t right.

Then I hung out in the dressing room with my best friend one day while she tried on a mountain of new clothing (job change required new work wardrobe). I was amazed at how fast she took off things that weren’t quite right. She didn’t linger in the mirror, turning this way and that, debating over whether the item could be right *if*, the way that I always did. If she didn’t love it right away, off it went. Now I try to emulate her resolve whenever I shop for clothing.

Another good tip I’ve heard is if you try something on and it doesn’t make you feel GREAT, don’t buy it because you won’t be motivated to wear it.

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Holly

I’ve done the “hanger trick” and it works great. As I get down to the last few hangers facing the opposite direction, I tell myself “wear it or give it away!”

It also helps to have a 1940s era sized closet and one generous 5-drawer chest of drawers. Everything for half a year has to fit in this amount of space while the other half of my wardrobe is in one very large suitcase. My hope is that eventually I’ll be able to fit both seasons’ worth of clothes in the small closet and chest of drawers.

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Suzanne

This is a fabulous idea, one of which my closet could benefit from. I am guilty of purchasing clothes on the spur of the moment or because they were a “good” deal. Purchasing fewer items may help me to appreciate what I have and learn to be more creative. For more great wardrobe ideas feel free to check out this post. http://c1c.bz/f03

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Holly

Am I the only one who actually knows what I wear and don’t wear just by looking into my closet? How many clothes do you all have?

I never use these tips though, because it seems like as soon as I get rid of something I haven’t worn in three years I find myself wanting to wear it again at least every month. This only ever applies to things I get rid of because of style and not because of fit, though.

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Jonathan

Now that you’ve pared down your wardrobe to items you wore over the past year, the next step is developing a more robust wardrobe. Check out articles about packing for travel by Rick Steves and others for ideas such as making sure your shirts, shoes, and pants can be interchangeable to form various outfits. For example, do you have a favorite shirt that only goes with 1 pair of pants? That’s not ideal. It’d be better if the shirt matched 2 pairs of pants for greater versatility. A more versatile wardrobe will result in a smaller wardrobe.

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Derek

Great post JD! My fiancée and I are planning to a spring purge of our wardrobe in the next couple of weeks. I wish I would have known about that hanger trick a year ago.

I usually wear dress clothes to work and jeans on the weekends, but sweats/comfy stuff while just at home. I could probably pear down my stuff to about half. Clothes are one of things I spend my money on, so I have a lot of jeans that I don’t wear — do consignment shops accept both mens and women’s clothes?

If I can make a bit of money back on some of the clothes, great, but if not, it doesn’t really matter.

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Budgeting in the Fun Stuff

I love this idea! I’m going to do this with the boxes of stuff we have. They are going into the guest bedroom. Anything needed in the next year will be put back to work and everything else will be donated. My only exception will be photos…they get to stay even if I don’t get around to putting them in albums like I should. Thanks!

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katie

I pack away winter clothes in April/May and pull out my summer clothes (the opposite happens in October). When I pull the summer clothes out of storage, I try everything on. Whatever doesn’t fit, goes to Goodwill. While I’m packing away the winter clothes for the summer, I get rid of anything I haven’t worn that season. I figure if I haven’t worn it in a year, I certainly won’t miss it!

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Heather A

I totally changed all my hangers backwards as suggested-moments after reading this suggestion.

I think the more material items we own- the more stressed some of us become because of the clutter.

I also signed up for a Listia.com account as I already do ebay-finding time is another subject. Hence I am headed to 43folders.com

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trb

re: the emotional attachment, when my father died my sister and I picked out the clothes we would wear and kept them. Then we picked out the things we associated seeing him in on a regular basis – the recognizable stuff – and had those several shirts, shorts, suit, etc made into four quilts for the four of us. It’s a wonderful keepsake and much more practical than individual clothes that none of us would wear.

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Shara

I hoard clothes because I am 6′ and finding any pants or long sleeved shirts in my size at thrift stores is impossible. So those jeans I haven’t fit into since before my daughter was born are hard to part with because I know a replacement pair is going to cost $60-80 as I only know of a couple places that fit and the standard jean styles never go on sale.

But when I don’t have room I do purge. But until I run out of room I don’t worry about it. Although I’m behind I have a pile of clothes of the floor to take to donate.

I’m waiting for Tyler to come in and make his comment about how the 80/20 rule is a little silly. Yeah some stuff you can get rid of because you don’t use it that often. But when you need a funnel, water shoes, miter saw, party clothes, or whatever, it really sucks to not have it (and you often have to buy it when the occasion arises). You don’t use your spare tire that often, why haul it around?

Some stuff you don’t need, but its value isn’t necessarily in how often you use it, but how convenient it is when you DO.

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elena

My husband took up running and lost a lot of weight. He didn’t have to replace as many clothes as I thought. He’s tall with very broad shoulders, so most of the shirts still fit. Pants had to be replaced eventually.

Personally I wear mostly the same things all the time. Black tops and jeans 90% of the time at home. I take better care when I have fewer clothes, plus I have so much less to cycle thru the laundry now. I don’t like laundry.

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Joel | Blog Of Impossible Things

I moved recently and took about 1/3 of my clothes with me. It’s amazing how much I don’t actually need even though I can conjure up thousands of scenarios where I might just need that one item. Too bad none of those scenarios could ever actually legitimately happen.

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Peggy

So true about clothes…I wear different clothes to work than I wear at home, but what I wear to work is pretty much the same thing (mix/match) with no more than four pair of pants and jackets. I wear lots of different sweaters and rotate through them on a regular basis. When I come home I change and wear the ‘at home’ clothes all week.

In the past I was a shop-a-holic. It was my hobby until I came across your site. From buying every week or two (always on-line because we live overseas) I now only buy every few months, but even those are due to wishful thinking as I too need to loose weight. Overall I have way too many wishful things that I keep hoping to grow down to. I’m going to make myself do a purge by the end of this year…if I haven’t lost the weight I want to, then out go the clothes!

For #18: I can understand how difficult it is to part with clothes that were your mother’s. My mom passed away over ten years ago and I have things of hers (not clothes as none would have fit me) that I don’t really need to keep, but hold on to for sentimental reasons. Perhaps you would consider donating the things in her memory to a woman’s shelter or other charitable organization. From what you write, it seems like your mom was a very stylish lady (mine was too!) and those clothes could go a long way to bolstering someone’s morale.

Good luck with whatever you choose. You’ll find the best time and solution to let go.

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Caroline

I recently went entirely digital with my cds/dvds and books. I had been heading in that direction for so long and I suddenly realised that it had beeen years since I’d listened to an actual disc.

In the last few years I’ve gone from having a book library that took up an entire room plus many, many cds/dvds to one shelf of books and a hard drive 🙂

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Mike Choi

JD great great post on a strategy to implement the 80/20 principle on your wardrobe. I too got rid a lot of my cloths a year ago after setting aside cloths that I did not wear during that year. By doing this, I was able to donate about 3 garbage bags to charity.

In addition to downsizing my wardrobe a year ago; I also downsized to a smaller wallet and reduced the contents in my wallet. Some people literally carry “bricks” as wallets with all the credit cards and business cards jammed in there.

I just wanted to mention the wallet because I carry around my smaller sized wallet everyday and it acts as constant reminder to reduce clutter in my life!!!

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Rebecca Saxton

Also, please don’t forget your local hospitals!! Many times, when accident victims come in their clothing is cut off and they have nothing to wear home. — of course family can bring some things in, but not everyone has family to come to them etc.

When my father passed away, I gave several of his T-shirts to friends I knew would wear them and enjoy them. When I see them being worn, it reminds me of him and I know he’d like that they were being put to good use. As for all his business suits, I donated the majority to good will, but I also gave some to a group who gets the homeless back on their feet and are trying to get jobs, etc.

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Susan

I keep the size of my wardrobe in check with this rule: for every piece of clothing or pair of shoes I buy, I get rid of at least one piece of clothing or pair of shoes. If you are still paring down, the rule could be to get rid of at least two, three, or more items for every one item you buy.

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threeoutside

“Any advice for overcoming the psychological barrier?”

You’ve gotten some great ideas from others, I see. My suggestion is more of an emotional one. I lost my husband almost 4 years ago. Following wise advice from a friend who was widowed a long time ago, I didn’t worry about getting rid of his clothing at all, though I did think about where I’d take it, which items I would keep, etc. I let time take its course. Suddenly one day I found myself taking all of his clothes out of the closet and sorting it into types, shirts, pants, sweaters, suit coats, etc., so I could do a count for taxes. Then as soon as I’d loaded it into the car, I went to my chosen charity and unloaded them.

It was somewhat emotional, sorting through them, but suddenly it occurred to me just what some said previously – there are people who *really really* need these clothes. This was part of my husband’s legacy to the world, and part of my honoring his memory. That was still emotional, but in a totally wonderful way.

You just divest yourself of things as your heart is ready. When you’re ready, you’ll know.

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Budgie

Instead of trying to figure out a system to keep track of clothes that are getting worn or not getting worn, maybe you can focus your effort on WHY you tend to wear certain articles of clothing versus others. The clothes you wear most often are probably the most flattering on you and are the most comfortable. Maybe you tend to wear certain colors more often than others. Maybe you wear certain shirts more often because they go better with the pants/jeans that you already have. Maybe you would wear the other shirts more often if you had something else to wear with them. Whatever the reason, try to find out WHY and keep those reasons in mind when you buy new clothes. Before you buy, ask yourself if you already have compatable items in your wardrobe. Take the few minutes to try it on before you buy, to make sure it’s really comfortable and flattering. In other words, try to keep purchase mistakes to a minimum so that your’re not throwing them out next year.

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Shari

I go through my closet twice a year, and whatever I don’t wear goes to the local consignment shop. I often shop at rummage sales, and if I buy something that doesn’t work out when I get home (since they don’t usually let you try things on there!) I just put it in the pile to bring in; usually I get at least as much for it as I paid for it. I do occasionally buy new clothes, but usually from clearance racks. I had a very nice wardrobe for several years….but recently I lost some weight, went down two sizes, and have been slowly replacing those clothes. I will be choosier now as I buy new, because I usually do tend to have lots of clothes hanging in my closet that I wear never or rarely. Purging twice a year does help keep on top of it. I rarely regret getting rid of things….the only exception I can think of is last summer, when I hit the jackpot at a rummage sale. There was a ton of beautiful, high quality clothing that looked like it would fit, so I took a chance and bought a lot of it. When I got it home, most of it was too small. I took it to the consignment store, but now that I lost weight I would fit into it. If only I could have seen the future!

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Gretchen

I do the hanger trick and it does work. My problem with the purging is that I wear tshirts, sweaters, and jeans to work so when I need to go somewhere “nice” I’m in trouble. so those types of things stay around just in case.

Also, I’ve been deciding as I wear an item that If I really don’t like it or it’s shrunk oddly or something I need to get rid of it that day. Haven’t quite figured out how to do this and send them to Goodwill washed, though.

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Eliot

I clean out my closet once a year. A couple of friends give me their cast-offs, because I don’t mind wearing things from seasons ago. Designer clothes are taken to one or two consignment stores (making a couple of hundred dollars), appropriate dresses are given to an organization that provides prom dresses to girls who can’t afford them for the event, (similarly, Dress for Success is an organization that provides work attire for women interviewing for jobs), coats go to coat drives, and the rest to Housing Works or Goodwill (some T-shirts are made into rags for cleaning). Also, animal shelters will take old towels and sheets.

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Alison

About a month ago, I was way behind on laundry and decided to look what was in my closet before hanging up the clean clothes. Out of the clothes in the closet I picked out four outfits for the week for work (Fridays are jeans days), and still had enough to make a couple more outfits. I also looked to see what was still hanging there and decide if it was something I actually wore. Not only did it help me weed out clothes I don’t wear, but I felt like I had “new” clothes by grabbing clothes I didn’t normally wear. After this, I realized I really don’t “need” new clothes!!!

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Elizabeth

Six months ago our apartment flooded as a result of a 31 inch water main break. We ended up with about a foot and a half of water throughout the place and lost most of our furniture and a bunch of other stuff.

All our clothes were sent to salvage so we were left with the clothes we were wearing plus anything we grabbed as the water rose, which wasn’t much. We did get to visit the salvage place in November so we could get winter coats and a few other things but that was all. For example, I had a single pair of jeans to wear during reconstruction.

Fast forward to last month when we finally got back in our place and all those clothes were returned. We were excited until we got the stuff and realized we hadn’t missed probably ¾ of our wardrobes and why were we keeping that stuff anyway.

We donated probably 2/3 of those returned items.

I should add in here that we aren’t packrats and we didn’t live in a clutter-filled environment. We have a decent-sized apartment for Boston (about 1k square feet) but it’s hardly enormous. Our dressers weren’t stuffed to overflowing prior to the flood and our closets weren’t bursting either. Yet we had way more than we needed or wanted.

I don’t think a flood or fire would be anyone’s recommended decluttering method, but it’s certainly had that effect on us.

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Jean

Sigh. I wish I had a closet.

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Julie

About 15 years ago I started a systems that’s worked well for me. Every year about end of September I take a hanger, tape a piece of paper and write the current date on it and hang it at the furthest left of my closet. ALL clothes I wear after that get hung on the other side of the hanger, on that left side of it. Nothing gets moved over until it is worn. It’s clear to see what I wear, and what I don’t, and it makes it easier to let go of what I have not worn for 2, 3, 4 years. But I have to admit, I still have a few things I hang on to for many many years.

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vbr

Ha! I think I have it easiest. I only buy clothes when I need them and I like to rotate my clothes so almost every piece of clothing (some I keep for special occassions) gets worn eventually. Dress clothes are the only exception where I need colors to match on formal occassions, so some shirts hardly get used as they are hard to match with pants.

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Emma

If, like me, you have multiple types of hangers, you could specify for the next two weeks you’ll hang clothes up on this type. Then for the next two weeks you’ll use this type. That way you’ll have a visual representation.

Or you could just hang them up facing the opposite direction once you’ve worn them.

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Matt

JD,

Re: DVDs. I used to have 2 FULL dvd bookcases (one of tv dvds, the other of movies). Like your unused shirts, I didn’t even touch 95% of these movies over the time span of 2 years. I made up my mind to sell enough to get to one bookcase. It was a painful process (bye bye, Braveheart & Simspsons) but well worth it. I made some decent money back via Half.com / craigslist and donated the rest to charity. Now I try and get rid of a dvd when I buy new ones.

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Karla

That’s exactly what I did!! Except in my case, one son left for college and we swapped our upstairs, hot-in-the-summer bedroom for his cooler downstairs bedroom. Like you, I got rid of a LOT of clothes that I hadn’t worn in years. It was the only way I could (w/o much stress) figure out what I actually wear and what I don’t. Very useful experiment that everyone ought to do every year or so.

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Ian McKellar

My wife and I are one year into a fourteen month round-the-world trip. At the start of our trip we had to decide what to keep, what to sell, what to bring and what to throw away. For everything that we brought we had to like it enough to carry it on our backs for a year. For everything that we wanted to keep we had to like it enough to pay to store it. In the end we kept very little. It was really tough for me to get rid of all of this stuff that I love, but it felt so good to have it gone. I definitely want to do a similar process regularly, hopefully every year.

When going through stuff I realized that there are some t-shirts that I’ll never wear again, but that have a lot of sentimental value. It’s the same for CDs – I’ve moved entirely digital with my music collection, but there’s still some of them I want to keep – old favorites, friends bands, etc. I had to realize that some possession that I was previously considering “functional” possessions (ie: I had them because they were useful to me in my day-to-day life) are in fact souvenirs. Then I put them where I keep those kinds of things instead of where I keep my clothes, etc.

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Jessica @ Life as I See It

One of my challenges this year is to only buy clothes second hand for myself and my two boys – there are INCREDIBLE deals to be had on second hand clothes for literally pennies on the dollar.
A couple months ago I realized that I don’t NEED all those deals in my own closet. It definitely is hard to pass up brand name clothes for 98% off retail value but I do value simplicity more than a dozen designer shirts… especially as a stay at home mom who doesn’t have much practical use for the fancier clothes 😉

That being said… shopping at thrift stores has allowed me to dress WAY nicer than I could otherwise afford and I do like to “shop ahead” for new seasons and anticipate needs in my children and my wardrobe if I find a great deal on something. But I try to pass on clothes to others if I bring new pieces into my house.

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Esbe

Hi!

I really admire this war on stuff! Actually you’ve inspired me to take the war on clothes. I’ve copied you in every way, but since I only got 16 square meters I’ve hidden my unused clothes in drawers and one wardrobe and uses the other wardrobe for the clothes I’m using.

Actually I’m allready sorting out the clothes I’m using, to throw or give them away. I realise they’re not the clothes I want for different reasons. How about that? 🙂

Wish you good luck on your projects furtheron, I will follow through reading and maybe doing the same when I’m in march next year has ended the clothes project (or got a bigger place so I can do more work like this at the same time).

Thanks for a great blog!

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Mike Crosby

JD, what a novel way of looking at getting rid of clothes. I absolutely love it.

The idea of getting rid of $750 worth of clothes is not costing you now $750, it cost you that when you first bought them. In fact, as we know the clothes can now be a detriment, for so many reasons. And in fact it costs you more by keeping them. Thanks JD.

For me, after reading this blog, it’s interesting to see the reasons to get rich slowly is based on so much great common sense.

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David LeDoux

This is a great post; and one we need to start implementing in our house immediately. I’ve had the wrong outlook all along. I look at my ‘Stuff’ and decide what to get rid of based on the question, “Do I plan on wearing/reading/using/listening to this at ANY point in the near (or far) future?” That leaves a very small percentage of gleaned items based on my changing/evolving tastes. Another problem I have is ‘reasoning’ that I’ve already spent the money on this once, why would I get rid of it now and spend more on it again later? The problem with that is our storeage space is finite, while our ‘collection’ slowly grows ever-larger.
Thanks for the refreshing point of view!

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Jenzer

@Ari (#41) – the Salvation Army has a valuation guide for determining the value of clothing and other items. Visit salvationarmyusa (dot) org, then click on Ways to Give > Donation Receipts – Valuation Guide.

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Nicole

@41 If the place you donate doesn’t give you a sheet with suggested ranges of dollar valuation, you can usually get one online. We generally just make a note of how many of each item we take in (3 long sleeve women shirt, 5 t-shirts men etc.) and tally up around tax time with the lowest value in a listed range.

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Khadijah

I support your war on Stuff and love reading about them.
I am trying to pare down my closet too, but its definitely a challenge because my weight fluctuates easily.
From college to working in an office I put on a bit of weight that I thought I was never going to get rid off (realistically, I’m not going back to college size, right?)
I outgrew my pants and bought new ones, discarded too tight pants and jeans and shirts.
Then I went through a stressful period and lost all that weight, now I can’t wear my *new* pants and jeans.
I can’t hate losing weight, but I’m just not going to spend that much money on clothes anymore.

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anon

@S Thanks for the reminder about women’s shelters. (That’s actually where most of Mom’s shoes went – I had forgotten about that option, though.) I think that’s what I’ll do – a birthday gift to a women’s shelter.

And I hate shopping, too. Which is good, because I have a hard time getting rid of stuff – even if it doesn’t have sentimental value.

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Ari Herzog

How do you determine the value of the clothes (or other household items) you donate, for tax purposes? Take button-down shirts; if you’ve owned for X years and bought it for $16.99, what’s the cost when donating?

It’s a great way to donate clothes, but have a chance to pick up some new-to-you items as well. At the end of the swap all the remaining items go to charity.

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Someone

@S: “I HATE shopping (yes, I know the only woman on the planet)”

No, you’re not. “Women love shopping” is a stereotype, and it’s not true. SOME women love it, but if I had a nickel for every woman I saw post on the internet that she hates to shop, well ya know (and there are plenty more who never post about it). I don’t like retail shopping either much at all.

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Amanda

Books–I made it a goal to get rid of 100 books this year. A moderate dent in my collection, but still.

I went through the bookshelves and just pulled out what I knew I wouldn’t read again or wouldn’t read ever. The first 50 books were easy. It was the next 50 that were tough to let go of!

It was hard at first to look at all of the money I was letting go of. But then I realized that getting rid of all of these books I didn’t want was really rather freeing. I didn’t feel pressure to read them. I ended up with room on my shelves to display my wedding shoes and some family photos, which was nice, too.

What’s funny is that as soon as I finished letting go of 100 books, about 50 more books came into my possession. However, these books were all free and in a language I’m learning!

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Shirley

You can still get you REI cloths without paying full price. You just have to be pickier about where you do your thrift store shopping. I find that driving to a more upscale neighborhood thrift store will yield me better quality clothing.
I get a thrill that I run around in complete outfits that cost me less then $10 all the time. None of my friends are any wiser

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Cammy@TippyToeDiet

I had to give away 100s of articles of clothing when I lost my weight, and I’ve still been holding on to the last “one size up.” You’ve inspired me to work on letting them go.

As for the rest, maybe there’s something to this hanger thing. 🙂

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S

To #18 anon – How about donating to a battered women’s shelter?

Also, note that Goodwill will accept garments with rips, stains, etc, for salvage.

I have the exact opposite problem – not enough clothes. I HATE shopping (yes, I know the only woman on the planet) and have to force myself to go. My SIL once asked me where I kept the rest of my clothes after seeing my closet! I own five pairs of work pants (in black and gray) and maybe 8 or 10 shirts (in black, white, red, gray)? For years, I didn’t own a pair of jeans. I do all the laundry once a week, on Sunday, so everything is ready for the week.

I do live in the sub-tropics so there is no need for seasonal clothes. When I was home with the kids, I lived in short, T-shirts and sandals.

What I do spend on is sun resistant SPF swimsuits and clothing for the beach, pool and outdoors. Love Solumbra and Coolibar.

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anon

@bjs1109 – Awesome idea. Her birthday is coming up. I won’t ‘donate the clothes to Goodwill,’ I’ll ‘give them as a present to someone who will wear them’ in honor of her birthday. Perfect way to reframe it – I already feel less guilty at the thought of it!

And I’ll take the pile that I would wear if only they fit better to the tailor, too.

Thanks!

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Mary Kate

I read a tip about putting a sticker on each article of clothing, which you remove when you wear the item. After a period of time you reevaluate everthing that hasn’t been worn. That would be like the Post-it tip above.

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Cara

#18 — one idea is to find a piece of clothing that is special for some reason — she loved it, or you love the fabric — and have it made into something else you can use. (Or do this yourself if you are crafty). Fabric could be used to create a scarf, framed and hung on a wall, made into a pillow, a jewelry pouch, even napkins or dishtowels! Something you would see and interact with every day, instead of a piece of clothing that is hanging in a closet or sitting in a box.
Creating something like this might give you the peace of mind to donate the rest of the clothing and let it find its way to a new and thankful owner.

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Courtney

#12 Melanie “I’ve never done this, but I vaguely remember reading about a system where you put a bread tie on every hanger in the closet. When you wear an article of clothing, you just take off the tie. At the end of the year, hangers that still have twist ties hold the clothes that get eliminated.”

YES!! I do this, because I’m anal about having all my clothes hangers facing the same way. I purge twice a year when I have to ‘flip my closet’ (move the now seasonal stuff to the center – oh how I miss my walk-in closet in our old place…)

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Stephanie P

The reverse hanger trick is pretty awesome.

I just wanted to say congrats on your weight loss journey! I am there (have lost 31-33lbs depending on the day so far), and know the trouble of getting clothes that fit. You’ll figure it out! 🙂

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Matt Jabs

I love reading about this project of yours JD… you and Adam have inspired me to do something similar. The paring down of my wardrobe will most likely happen much quicker (I’m a bit compulsive.) I’ll also be chronicling the entire experience on DFA for all to read. Thanks for the kick in the tail, and good job getting rid of those 37 shirts 🙂 I know it couldn’t have been easy to part w/them.

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Jan

For those with clothes of loved ones.
I donate to a very local good will. I have actually seen a few of my grandmother’s things on kids. I try to remember that she would have loved seeing her things used- and imagine someone who needs them- in them.
Work clothes- ladies- Social Security helps women get back in the workforce with a tie to the Salvation Army here. They specifically take work clothes and put them in the hands of people starting over!:>)

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Josh Wheeler

Ha – the reverse hanger trick posts cracked me up. It was back to back the same thing, and I’m like “wow, nobodies reading comments before they post.” Then I saw JDs explanation. Very funny. That’s a great tip though.

I actually have more problems with my t-shirts though than hanging clothes to be honest… my test is when the drawer won’t close I have to pick a few to get rid of. It’s made me figure out the most efficient way to fold my shirts at least. The throwing out the shirts with holes thing doesn’t work for me as a guy though, the holy t-shirts are my favorites! I guess I could throw out the ones without holes since they’re the ones I don’t wear.

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Sarah

Moving into a smaller place helps.

Other than that, I like to just pare down over time. I cull our books once a year or so, though we don’t get rid of many of those. Clothes get sorted through and given away every couple of months. Small closets help.

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Cheryl

I think a lot of the problem with oversized wardrobes is the vast amount of closet space modern homes tend to have. When we moved into our new house, I had to take the spare bedroom closet because my husband’s wardrobe is so much larger than mine (out of necessity due to work). But my wardrobe was still bigger than the spare room’s closet, so I HAD to eliminate a good chunk of my wardrobe. It simply wouldn’t fit. Now, 2 years later, I realize this was a godsend. I simply cannot keep outfits I don’t wear regularly because I don’t have space. As a result, I have to make sure that every piece I buy is something I absolutely love, and mixes with other pieces of my wardrobe. The result? I’ve cut down on my clothing budget, PLUS have a better selection and quality of clothes to choose from every day. Can’t get a better than that!

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bjs1109

to anon, 9:46:

The piece or 2 a month seems to be working just fine. Worst case would be to keep doing that, till all the discards are gone.

Another possibility is giving them away. This would work really good at Christmas time. You’re not throwing them away, or dropping them off at a thrift store; you’re “giving them to people who would really like them.” Who doesn’t like to give gifts? Don’t just shove them into a garbage or shopping bag; fold them up nicely, stack them neatly. Think good thoughts about how happy the recipients will be to get them, maybe have Xmas music on as well. You’re not getting rid of garbage, you’re giving gifts to people you don’t personally know.

I have largely solved this problem by following these 2 rules:
Hint: you must follow both of them

1) if an item of clothing is PERFECT (fit, size, shape, color) or can be tailored to make it so, BUY IT- even if it’s more than you would normally pay for an item.

2) if it is NOT PERFECT, do not buy it no matter how cheap it is or how good the sale is.

following these 2 rules has left me with a clothes that I look good in and feel comfortable wearing and has eliminated all those pieces that were almost right and never got worn.

Surprisingly, even though the perfect pieces are more expensive than I would have let myself spend in the past, using this approach has saved me A LOT of money. All those times I avoid buying the 9.99 sale shirt allows me to pay more when I find the one that really fits.

Not for nothing, the more expensive, higher quality clothes also last longer!

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Jane

“Any advice for overcoming the psychological barrier?”

I would also like to know this. I have a bunch of clothes of my mother’s that are from the 60s and 70s. I will never wear them – she was much smaller back then than I am – but I just can’t bring myself to get rid of them. They were hand made for her and are so cute and vintage.

I did, however, eventually get rid of some other family items that I kept for sentimental reasons. I kept on saying to myself, “You have other ways and things to remember your loved one by. Their memory will not disappear once you give this away.” It helped a little but it was still hard.

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frugalscholar

You didn’t really throw away $750. You gave a couple of hundred dollars to a charitable organization when you bought the clothes and, by donating them back, you’re enabling the organization to make money.

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J.D. Roth

Ha. Okay, so while I was off doing other stuff, several people posted the same “reverse hanger” trick at the same time, and all of their comments were held in moderation, so nobody could see that somebody else had already said the same thing. Thus, there are a half dozen people all with the same tip. 🙂

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anon

My problem? I’m trying to purge clothes with sentimental value (for lack of a better term). My mother passed away two years ago, and, being the only one her size, I got the clothing. I tried to not accept at least half of it (not my style, etc.), but my siblings wouldn’t hear of it. I pretty much had to take anything that remotely fit. Once I went to the effort of bringing it home (I had to buy 2 large suitcases at a thrift store to get it all on the airplane!), though, I can’t bring myself to do a thorough purge. I’m doing alright at getting rid of a piece or two a month, but I’d like to accelerate the process.

(I should mention that ‘not-my-style’ does NOT mean ‘grandma clothes’ – those would be easy to get rid of. As it happens, I’m more conservative about clothes than my mother ever was! So these are clothes I could wear, and no one would look twice, unless it was to compliment me on my style.)

Any advice for overcoming the psychological barrier?

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Libby

Take pictures of the clothing and put them on your computer. When you want to be reminded of your mom, pull them up and browse through them. This also works with gifts that you don’t use or don’t have room to keep. No one is benefiting from those articles of clothing if you keep them packed away. I’m sure that your mother would want someone using them. Pick a couple of favorites to keep for sentimental reasons and get rid of the rest (after the picture-taking, of course!).

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Bethany

If you don’t need the cash or something you should make a quilt or some other keepsake with your mom’s clothes. Maybe one for you and each of your siblings. a great way to repurpose her clothing.

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Andrea

A trick I’ve heard about for clothes is to hang all the hangers backwards, with the hooks pointing out, and every time you wear an item, put it back with the hanger the regular way. At the end of your allotted time anything still on a backwards hanger goes. I’m going to try this myself when I do my seasonal clothes-shuffle in a few weeks (if it ever stops snowing in Wyoming).

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Dasha

For non-clothes, try putting post-it notes on each item, then removing them every time you use the item.

And don’t forget that the clothes you donated to goodwill just might end up being someone else’s new favorite shirt!

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Carl

What a great idea J.D. I have urged my church for years to live simply and to de-clutter. I believe that most Americans could go 2-3 months never wearing the same thing twice, never washing anything (except under-garments). This, while most people in the world have 1 or 2 outfits, period. We don’t have to strip down (pun intended) to that level, but most of us could stand to have less clothing.

Still, I’ve never really thought of any creative way to prove to yourself that this was the case. I love the idea. I think I will try and talk my wife into doing this with our clothing!

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TosaJen

I do the seasonal purging — spring and fall (it’s TIME!). All the long underwear and winter coats and accessories should be unnecessary for another 6 months!

However, I also keep some things I only wear once a year or so that I hang onto for those special occasions. But those go into a special storage space — not in the regular closet.

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Piper

I’ve often used the technique of placing all the clothes hangers on the bar backwards (so that the end of the hook points towards you rather than the wall ) once a year. Then as you use the clothes put them back on the hangers normally. All the clothes are still in the same place, but now you have a way to identify how long it has been since you last wore them.

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Melanie

I’ve never done this, but I vaguely remember reading about a system where you put a bread tie on every hanger in the closet. When you wear an article of clothing, you just take off the tie. At the end of the year, hangers that still have twist ties hold the clothes that get eliminated.

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steven@hundredgoals.com

JD: I was able to almost entirely eliminate my DVD collection by sorting through it about once a month, eliminating the ones which I knew I would never watch again. Each month, I became more and more selective. After I had cut it down to a “reasonable” amount, I forgot about the project for a while before going at it again, this time with a fresh eye. When I was finally to the point where I had only my absolute favorite titles, I bought a nylon DVD case which would hold the exact number (or close to) of DVDs I owned. Then I filled the case with the discs and disposed of the cases.

Now, my DVD collection is manageable, able to be hidden away and I don’t have room to expand due to the size restriction of the case. I haven’t bought a DVD in well over a year and have no desire to do so. When we want to watch a movie, we check the case first and if there isn’t anything we want to watch there, we go to Redbox. If nothing is there, we might check out the movie theatre and if nothing is there, we find something else to do.

This may seem strange but I think the hardest part was throwing away the cases, especially for the boxed sets I owned. They stayed in a pile next to my entertainment center until about 2 weeks ago when I finally had the strength to part with them. I think it was the artwork of the packaging that made it difficult to get rid of them. That, and maybe the idea that if I ever wanted to sell them, I probably wouldn’t be able to do so.

Then I realized that I kept the movies for a reason, because I didn’t want to sell them and into the garbage went the cases. It wasn’t easy but I did it and in a way, it feels liberating to have finally parted ways with these last few lingering emotional connections to my Stuff.

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Nick L.

I’ve done Something similar before where you hang everything with the hanger facing the wrong way. As you wear thinga and put them back, place them in the closet as you’d normally hang them. That way you don’t have to worry about keeping stuff separate.

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Caitlin

What a great way to pare down your wardrobe! Thanks for sharing your findings after a year.

I keep my wardrobe in check while safeguarding my wallet against clothing “needs” by doing a comprehensive analysis. Specifically, this means evaluating and categorizing each piece of clothing and rating it on a set of criteria. I use an excel spreadsheet and pivot tables. Yes, I’m serious. I am happy to describe my methodology if you’d like more detail.

In the end, I have the analysis to help me make objective decisions about what stays and goes, know what needs repair, and assess where the gaps are in my wardrobe. So, the next time I walk into anyplace selling clothing (whether it’s Costco or a roadside garage sale), I know exactly what I need (and don’t need).

This analysis takes 2-3 hours of one day, and it lasts me a year or more. I have not calculated how much money it has saved me, but I know the results of my analysis have helped me show clothes-buying restraint on more than one occasion.

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Julie Jelinek

I just today read your comment about how to organize your wardrobe using spreadsheets and privot tables. I see that it was written 2 years ago,May of 2010. I confess that I know nothing about pivot tables. Do you still have time to explain about this. I need help when organizing a wardrobe and makeing new purchases.
Many thanks,
Julie in Arlington, TX

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JulieK

Yes I’d really love more info on these wardrobe spreadsheets! I am a huge fan of using spreadsheets to organize my whole life 🙂

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Barbara

One easy method to determine if you are wearing an item or not is to turn all the hangers backwards on the rod on some given date, then turn them around once you wear the item. It becomes apparent pretty fast which items are actually being worn. After one year, if the item hasn’t been worn, out it goes.

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shamus

I recently read about a handy way to keep this sort of closet cleaning up.

Every year turn all of your hangers around, whenever you use something put it back in normally, that way to you can differentiate the unused from the used, without needing an extra room as you loose weight.

One method I’ve read about at other sites is to hang your clothes with the hanger backwards in your closet. When you wear the item, rehang it correctly. At the end of the season, year, or whatever period you choose, get rid of anything still hanging backwards.

I haven’t done this yet, but I’m on my way! 🙂

Good luck with the weight loss. I need to lose about 35-40 pounds this year. I’ve lost the weight in the past, but gained it back.

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Bitter Knitter

The trick to keeping track of what clothes you wear in your closet is to flip all the hangers around so that the hook is coming at you, and then flip it back once you wear that item. It makes it pretty easy to see what you’re actually wearing and what’s just sucking up space.

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Nicole

At tax time you’ll be happy that you donated those shirts. It’s always a pleasant surprise when we enter our donations into TurboTax, especially if we’ve done a major clear out for goodwill in addition to the regular donations.

It’s also always pleasant to buy clothing because you’ve lost weight! I hate shopping, so I do it in one fell swoop, but a little at a time probably leaves you not looking like a clown with falling-off-pants before you bite the bullet and hit the ann taylor outlet. (Well, probably not Ann Taylor in your case.)

Buying clothing because you’ve gained weight is nowhere near as fun… but those size 10s and 12s I got rid of were too young for me and out of style anyway. I think not wanting to have to buy size 12s is the only thing keeping me from gaining even more weight.

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Tekelvik

When you wash clothes, hang them with the hangers backwards, i.e., hooks facing out instead of in. When you wear something, flip the hanger. After a while, you will have a quick visual of which clothes you wear and which ones you don’t.

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RMoM

I would love to empty my house too of all the stuff I never use and I have gotten rid of a large amount of crap since last year. There is still the garage to go through, however, as well as various closets and the under-stair nightmare cupboard. My own closet is filled with clothes, 90% of which I never wear. I am resolved to getting this unused stuff out of my life and never replacing it again with more unused stuff. I am shooting for a final garage sale in about two weeks time.

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Rosa

If you have seasonal wardrobes – i just packed all of our longjohns and stuff away – spring & fall are the good times to pare down.

The other option, is do it by space – if the space you have allotted to clothes is full, time to go through and get rid of stuff. When my boyfriend’s t-shirt drawer is full, I make him pull out the shirts with holes & the ones he doesn’t wear.

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